Pilots Object To Rule Change On Air Traffic

September 16, 1985|By Jon Marcus, Transportation Writer

A proposed change in air traffic control procedures at the Fort Lauderdale- Hollywood International Airport is at the core of a conflict in a Southern California area with a similar amount of airplane traffic.

And in the week since the new plan designed to reduce the potential for collisions in the air was officially proposed for Fort Lauderdale, pilots and former air traffic controllers have said it will not work or is not necessary.

They also said the plan would not eliminate the kind of problem that was responsible for the nation`s worst air collision, the crash of a Pacific Southwest Airlines 727 in San Diego in September 1978.

The plane was struck by a Cessna 172 on a training flight at an altitude of 3,000 feet, and both were in communication with the tower -- not required then, but mandatory under the proposal under consideration for Fort Lauderdale.

But even though proponents of the concept say that constant communication will prevent an air crash -- because the air traffic controller will theoretically know exactly where every airplane is -- the pilots who collided in the San Diego crash were talking to two separate controllers in the Lindbergh Field tower.

The Federal Aviation Administration wants to make it mandatory for pilots to maintain two-way radio communication with the tower within 10 nautical miles of the airport, instead of the five nautical miles required now. Officials said this would allow airplanes to fly closer together and without risk of collision.

Meetings to discuss the plan -- called the Airport Radar Service Area -- were held last week in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. It is already in effect or under consideration at 39 U.S. airports.

Near Los Angeles, the proposal is to be implemented soon at two civilian and three military airports, which together oversee a 40-mile area of airspace. Like South Florida, it is among the nation`s busiest air corridors. Pilots in the region, where hearings also were held last week, are fuming.

``Pure and simple, we don`t like it,`` said Don Downie, a pilot from Glendora, Calif., and a representative of the Airline Owners and Pilots Association.

At a hearing Thursday on the subject, Downie said, ``There were 350 people there. We had a show of hands, and everyone objected for a lot of reasons.``

Among them, Downie said, was that pilots who want to avoid the mandatory contact with an air traffic controller will have to fly below 1,200 feet.

``You increase the noise level on the ground, and in case of engine failure, you don`t have time to find a place to land,`` he said.

Christine Edwards, noise abatement officer of the John Wayne Regional Airport in Orange County, Calif., and herself a flight instructor, said, ``Controllers will not be able to handle this traffic. They`re overloaded already. There is tremendous local concern in the pilots` community.``

But Joe Fowler, an FAA spokesman in Los Angeles, said, ``By the time the program is implemented, we will have more than twice as many controllers.``

Pilots would have to remain in contact with the tower while flying near the airport at an altitude between 1,200 and 4,000 feet. To avoid the mandatory contact, planes would have to fly above, below or around the designated area.

``That`s going to force (small airplanes) closer to each other and lower,`` said Tony Turiano, a pilot from Miami Springs. ``The thing to do would be to raise the (1,200-foot) base. To raise it would eliminate the usefulness at Fort Lauderdale. I really don`t think there`s any problem now.``

A former Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport controller, fired when the union went on strike in 1981, said: ``It is really a disaster waiting to happen.``

It is, in effect, a much less efficient method of control. It`s two steps backward. This might look good to the public.``

But, he said, there are not sufficient numbers of experienced controllers to undertake the plan.

For its part, the FAA has said it will consider any comments made at public meetings.

FAA spokeman Bob Burns said it was likely the plan would be implemented here by February.